BAT lights up £28m Vietnam deal

KEN CLARKE'S famous trip to Vietnam at the onset of the Tory leadership election bore fruit today when BAT, the company of which he is deputy chairman, unveiled a $40m(£27.6m) joint venture with the Vietnamese Government.

The former Chancellor of the Exchequer was heavily criticised at the time of his June excursion, which took him out of the country at a crucial moment in the leadership race.

Under the deal, announced today in Ho Chi Minh City, BAT will team up with State-owned Vinataba to build a new tobacco-processing factory in Dong Nai, south of the city. The factory will turn cured leaf into tobacco for cigarette manufacture in local factories.

The joint venture will enable BAT to help Vinataba develop the country's tobacco industry to global standards and will also pass on its expertise in environmentally friendly tobacco cultivation.